/*
 * Copyright 2007-2008 Michele Mostarda ( michele.mostarda@gmail.com ).
 * All Rights Reserved.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the 'License');
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an 'AS IS' BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.asemantics.rdfcoder.inspector;

/**
 * Responsible to parse an expression.
 */
public interface InspectorParser {

    /**
     * Path separator for an expression string.
     */
    public static final String PATH_SEPARATOR = ".";

    /**
     * Parses an expression returning a sequence of applicable patterns.
     */
    Pattern[] parse(String expression) throws InspectorParserException;

    /**
     * Allows to register an applicable pattern to the parser.
     *
     * @param pattern
     */
    void registerApplicablePattern(Pattern pattern);

    /**
     * Allows to deregister an applicable pattern.
     * 
     * @param pattern
     */
    void deregisterApplicablePattern(Pattern pattern);

}
